Best place to monitor find cheap fares for mileage runs?
May 21, 2001, 10:12 am
#16
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: (SNA) Orange County, California USA
Posts: 3,641
Tedeman, I also use Expedia's Fare Tracker which I now believe is what Pacha was actually referring to in his post above. I use it so seldom, compared to Travelocity's Fare Watcher that I forget about it. It is useful and one more tool to assist in maximizing miles.
Another resource I use is Deals & Destinations OneTravel.com Savings ALERT! from www.onetravel.com . I also have signed up to receive, usually every Wednesday via e-mail, the weekend internet-only airfare specials from various airlines.
Another resource I use is Deals & Destinations OneTravel.com Savings ALERT! from www.onetravel.com . I also have signed up to receive, usually every Wednesday via e-mail, the weekend internet-only airfare specials from various airlines.
May 21, 2001, 2:07 pm
#17
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Washington, DC USA
Posts: 17
Digital Cities has a good listing of low fares. Here is a link for Washington, DC, (which is nice because it includes all 4 area airports). They have sites for a lot of other cities also.
http://www.digitalcity.com/washington/travel/deals.dci
http://www.digitalcity.com/washington/travel/deals.dci
May 21, 2001, 8:29 pm
#18
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: PDX
Programs: TSA Refusenik charter member
Posts: 15,978
Well, I can definitely confirm that on UA Priceline tickets will not earn mileage. In fact, the field for a MP# on the PNR is prefilled in with "99999999999," which alerts agents it should not be updated. Ages ago on the United forum there was a thread that several folks who were initially credited with miles found that their accounts had been audited and the credit for Priceline tickets had been removed. I think kyklin was one of the folks.
May 21, 2001, 8:31 pm
#19
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: PDX
Programs: TSA Refusenik charter member
Posts: 15,978
Well, I can definitely confirm that on UA Priceline tickets will not earn mileage. In fact, the field for a MP# on the PNR is prefilled in with "99999999999," which alerts agents it should not be updated. Ages ago on the United forum there was a thread that several folks who were initially credited with miles found that their accounts had been audited and the credit for Priceline tickets had been removed. I think kyklin was one of the folks.
May 22, 2001, 3:08 am
#20
Join Date: Mar 2000
Programs: UA 1PMM,AAG; usedtobeelite
Posts: 2,499
essxjay, I think your original point was right on...don't count on priceline tix to earn miles. And that means that priceline is not an appropriate tool to purchase tix for a mileage run as we define it. I did not mean to call that into question, even though sometimes the tix get miles. Heck, I got miles on an award ticket once. But I would not count on it!
May 22, 2001, 11:22 am
#21
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Sacramento area, CA USA
Programs: UA Gold Million Miler, HH Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,858
For weekend runs, try www.smarterliving.com which will scan any airports you are willing to fly from and give you a summary each Tues or Wed of cheap weekend fares on numerous airlines so you do not have to sign on with all of them.
May 24, 2001, 12:42 am
#22
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1P; HHonors Silver
Posts: 2,686
MRLIMO:
[This message has been edited by EPS (edited 05-24-2001).]
- American
http://www.aa.com/travelplanning - Delta
http://www.delta.com/travel/reservat...time/index.jsp - United
http://www.united.com/index/Timetable - Star Alliance
http://st.flightlookup.com/StarDownload/pc.html
[This message has been edited by EPS (edited 05-24-2001).]
May 24, 2001, 5:51 am
#23
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Roanoke, VA
Programs: DL Gold Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,436
Originally posted by chemist661:
If you have time & patience, you can check bestfares.com. Check under the snooze you lose category. The fares are there for a short time & may be expired when you check but I got some great bargains from their info. For example, I bought UA ticket LAX-CVG for $103 (total minus $25 UA coupon), LAX-MSP for $142 total. Check this board as there are lots of good bargains posted here.
If you have time & patience, you can check bestfares.com. Check under the snooze you lose category. The fares are there for a short time & may be expired when you check but I got some great bargains from their info. For example, I bought UA ticket LAX-CVG for $103 (total minus $25 UA coupon), LAX-MSP for $142 total. Check this board as there are lots of good bargains posted here.
And then thanks to tvl4free for the instrux about finding the potential routings by going to "Airline Fare List" on Expedia.com.
May 30, 2001, 7:09 am
#26
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Soddy Daisy, TN USA
Programs: Former DL GM, NW Platinum, UNITED PREMIER, STARWOOD GOLD, RG, LP, US, AA & OTHERS
Posts: 99
Try "qixo.com" and you can even add it to YOUR website and earn $2 for every booking other people make on your site. Of course YOU will want to book on the respective airlines web sites directly, to earn those bonus miles, but it can help in finding lower fares! You can try "farechase.com" they have improved their site as well, but their disclaimer is scary. For International fares try "flights.com", and you earn miles MOST of the time (make double sure), BUT beware they have the highest change/cancellation fees in the world! Don't forget "ITA Software Trip Planner" one of the best ways to find a cheap fare.
Should you want a trip to Brazil try 1-800-BACCRIO, a company based out of NY, Sao
Paulo, and Rio. I have used them MANY times and they offer fair consolidator fares on MOST major airlines (when a package is not available). One last piece of advice (since I go east to west a lot) should you want to travel to/from the west coast try buying a ticket using MCO(Orlando) or MCI(Kansas City) as your base of departure/arrival, I think these hidden cities will prove a golden opportunity for "cheap" deals and extra segments to boot! (usually you can get cheap fares into these cities, also)
Boa Viagem!
[This message has been edited by BOA VIAGEM (edited 05-30-2001).]
[This message has been edited by BOA VIAGEM (edited 05-30-2001).]
Should you want a trip to Brazil try 1-800-BACCRIO, a company based out of NY, Sao
Paulo, and Rio. I have used them MANY times and they offer fair consolidator fares on MOST major airlines (when a package is not available). One last piece of advice (since I go east to west a lot) should you want to travel to/from the west coast try buying a ticket using MCO(Orlando) or MCI(Kansas City) as your base of departure/arrival, I think these hidden cities will prove a golden opportunity for "cheap" deals and extra segments to boot! (usually you can get cheap fares into these cities, also)
Boa Viagem!
[This message has been edited by BOA VIAGEM (edited 05-30-2001).]
[This message has been edited by BOA VIAGEM (edited 05-30-2001).]
Jun 6, 2001, 11:07 am
#28
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore/Washington area, USA
Programs: HH Gold
Posts: 259
I use the travel section of my.yahoo.com to monitor city pairs that I'm interested in. Then, to monitor fares throughout the day, I check this travel tab on the Yahoo Pager (which I keep open on my desktop all day).
Thanks everyone for the other ideas
Thanks everyone for the other ideas
Jun 6, 2001, 3:27 pm
#29
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Arizona
Programs: MSP raised, Elite since age 17
Posts: 4,723
Tedeman:
This may be a little off the track of the discussion, but it's pertinent to the original post.
Before you hop on the bus from SBN to Chicago, consider the extra miles you would earn by leaving out of SBN to go west. Especially if you are looking for mileage on NW, flying from SBN requires you route back via DTW, the only NW service from there, or on CO via CLE, whereas flying from Chicago sends you directly west. If you are looking for segments, then a trip to, say, ELP could be SBN--DTW--CLE--IAH--SBN vs. ORD--IAH--ELP. And you save the bus ride.
Having flown into SBN vs. Chicago for Christmas, it's really a treat to not have to deal with Chicago air or ground traffic.
This may be a little off the track of the discussion, but it's pertinent to the original post.
Before you hop on the bus from SBN to Chicago, consider the extra miles you would earn by leaving out of SBN to go west. Especially if you are looking for mileage on NW, flying from SBN requires you route back via DTW, the only NW service from there, or on CO via CLE, whereas flying from Chicago sends you directly west. If you are looking for segments, then a trip to, say, ELP could be SBN--DTW--CLE--IAH--SBN vs. ORD--IAH--ELP. And you save the bus ride.
Having flown into SBN vs. Chicago for Christmas, it's really a treat to not have to deal with Chicago air or ground traffic.